A Public Interest litigation (PIl) challenging Bharat Ratna award to Sachin Tendulkar has been filed in Allahabad High Court, lucknow Bench.
In their petition filed here on Thursday, IPS officer Amitabh Thakur claimed that Bharat Ratna is the highest award of this country and must be given after utmost scrutiny.
As per the petitioners, there are many other truly world class sportsmen like Vishwanathan Anand, Milkha Singh, Geet Sethi etc who gave better results in much more competitive sports than Cricket. Secondly, Cricket is now less of a sports and more a Tamasha that is taking this Nation backwards, so that Bharat Ratna to a cricketer is bound to give message of inaction.Amitabh and his wife Nutan Thakur, who is co-petitioner have also challenged the current method of awarding Bharat Ratna where the Prime Minister solely recommends names as being completely against the concept of transparency and inclusivity. They have prayed for a larger Committee for these awards which shall bestow Bharat Ratna to all truly Great Indians including Ashoka, Akbar, Kalidas, Kabeer, Kamban etc so as to become synonymous with its name.